Really special to see the electrifying Urban Blitz and the thuderous Silver Surfer on drums one last time.

First class set list (bar the missing Waiting encore). Couldn't have been better choices.

Now don't get me started on the audience, the venue and the rest of the show. The atmosphere wasn't Exploring Madness. Oh! For a pokey pub and ravining fans side by side by side singing along and hugging the returning heroes.

Colin Bentley (Stoner) who died on November 14 was mainly known for being a founding member and bassist for both the Doctors of Madness and then TV Smith’s Explorers in the late seventies and early eighties.

The Doctors of Madness were formed in 1974 in Twickenham by singer, guitarist and songwriter Richard (Kid) Strange and drummer Peter diLemma. They recruited Stoner on bass and Urban Blitz on guitar and violin. Richard Strange described Stoner as “the best bloke I have ever had in the band. He knows what it is about. And you should see him on stage. Weird!”. This last comment refers to the skinny t-shirts and skeletal makeup that Stoner’s wife Elaine applied to him rather heavily before each show.

The Doctors of Madness, who were once described as “a bit like the Velvet Underground but in 3D colour” released three studio albums, Late Night Movies All Night Brainstorms, Figments of Emancipation and Sons of Survival all of which were critically accliaimed but not commercially successful. Stoner played bass on all of these as well as providing backing vocals. He also sang lead vocal on one song, No Limits from Sons of Survival and live also took over lead vocals on the Velvet Underground cover What Goes On.

Stoner’s melodic bass playing helped put the colour into the band and together with Kid Strange’s blue hair, Urban Blitz’s army fatigues and Peter diLemma’s surfer dude bleached hair, his bizarre stage makeup helped further their edgy stage image. His playing can best be heard on the classic track, Marie and Joe, where Stoner’s bass solo provides a superb melodic break in the middle of the song before a wild guitar solo from Urban Blitz.

The Doctors of Madness broke up in 1978 and Stoner then joined TV Smith’s Explorers, playing on their near hit Tomahawk Cruise and first and only album, The Last Words of the Great Explorer. Again, Stoner was an integral part of the band until their break up in 1981.

Stoner was also in demand as a session musician. His work included playing bass with the Sadista Sisters, incorporating the role of musical director. He also did studio session work, playing on singles for the band Exit, and with Daedalo, making a five track CD Walk Inside the Painting, playing a five string fretless bass guitar.

Stoner and his wife Elaine moved from London to Worcestershire in the late 1980s, where Stoner maintained a musical interest, playing with local bands and gigging with Nigel Kennedy as well as a playing at a pair of Exploring Madness reunion gigs with Richard Strange and TV Smith in 2006. His last band was Malvern-based “The Pull” who recorded a five song EP The Magnets which is available through Bandcamp.

Stoner was re-united with both Richard Strange and TV Smith for two re-union gigs called Exploring Madness in Yorkshire in September 2006. Stoner played bass and sang backing vocals on Explorers songs with TV and Doctors of Madness songs with Richard, before all three united to play three 'Raw Meat for The Missionaries' demo's written by TV and Richard in the late seventies.

The final chapter in Stoner’s musical life came sadly in October where Stoner performed once again with the Doctors of Madness at the London Southbank Centre as part of Richard Strange’s tribute to William Burroughs: Language is a Virus from Outer Space. It was the first time the full original band had played together for 36 years and although Stoner was frail, the band put on an outstanding “greatist hits” set showing how underrated and ahead of time they were in the seventies.